Veela Hairs and Dragon Heartstrings
by sophichka
Summary: She was the Princess of Slytherin and dating Scorpius Malfoy, but after a *certain* incident her parents have had enough, and now she's on her way to stay with Charlie and *that* new dragon keeper in Romania... T for language.


She was sitting in the corner of the carriage, sitting amongst a huge group of people, but utterly alone. Her tumbling red curls were thrown carelessly over her shoulder, and her green eyes were far away as she stared out over the hills rolling past the window. Her breath misted as it hit the glass, the view to the outside gaining something of a mystical effect through the fog.

She was the girl everybody wanted to be, Harry Potter's daughter, Scorpius Malfoy's girlfriend, Princess of Slytherin. She was fearless, she was arrogant, cocky, proud, manipulative, or so they said. She strutted the corridors like she owned them, because, fuck, she might as well.

It was a charade though, this mask she presented to the rest of the world. They saw her as hard, unbreakable, with her short skirts and high heels. They looked up to her, worshipped her, wanted to be her. Well, they wanted to have her mask, at least.

She revelled in it, this superiority she had, this difference to the normal, humdrum life of the average Hogwarts student. She let them worship her, she encouraged it, she enjoyed the attention, the gifts, the rebellion.

She was the girl who wore her uniform in a way that would be more suited to a whore than a Hogwarts student, and whose language one would expect to hear in a late night movie, but not in a classroom. She was the girl who never turned up to lessons on time, the one who snuck the firewhisky, the Jack Daniels, the cigarettes into the common room.

That wasn't _her _though, or, at least, it wasn't who she wanted to be, who she had set out to be, once upon a time. It was who she had turned into, turned into sometime during her third year, sometime during all the shit that she had gone through.

Sure, she had never been a Gryffindor, brave and noble, she was far too manipulative and arrogant for that, and Hufflepuff would never have taken somebody as selfish as she. She liked to think that she would have made it as a Ravenclaw, but the hat had placed her where it saw fit, and as she looked out of the window as the rain began to fall she couldn't help but think perhaps it had been for the best.

In all honesty, she enjoyed being a Slytherin, the infamy, the status, the fear, the rumours. It made her special, different, being the daughter of two families of Lions in Slytherin. Harry Potter's daughter sharing a dorm with the _other side_. The daughter of the Boy-Who-Lived, going out with the son of her father's childhood enemy, best friends with the daughter of the woman who had been disowned by the rest of her family.

Oh yes, she enjoyed it alright.

Only, now, it was all going to change. Her parents had turned a blind eye this long, either that or they were both too busy to notice, but McGonagall had written a letter home, after finally becoming sick of her. She hadn't heard anything from either of her parents, although Al had received several letters between McGonagall's letter being sent and the end of term, so she knew that they were angry with her.

Properly, scarily, angry with her. It sent a thrill down her spine to think they were finally seeing her for who she was. Finally paying attention.

It wasn't even her fault really, she reasoned with herself late one night, the event that had caused the catalyst for McGonagall to write _that _letter, not really, and it certainly wasn't the _worst _thing she'd ever done – and this one was done for a good cause as well! She was _helping a friend_! Surely Minnie should be happy that she was actually being sociable for once.

Sent home because of being in the restricted section? It was a fucking joke. Oh, if only dear old Minnie knew about some of the other things she had done, then she would have a real reason to be angry.

She had been helping Madeleine Delacour, Gabrielle's daughter, to find out about her father. Madi was her best friend, for all intents and purposes, although, Lily Potter didn't have _best friends_, not really. Madi had been born when Gabrielle was 17, fresh out of Beauxbatons and naive as hell. Her family had disowned her; they couldn't believe that she could be so stupid. Luckily for her, however, she had an old great aunt who had always doted on her, and who allowed her to come and live with her.

Madi had never known her family, and she wanted desperately to know who her father was. She knew that he was part of an old wizarding family, pureblooded and almost certainly Slytherin, it was the only thing that could explain her personality and house after all.

Lily knew this left four options; the Zabinis, the Notts, the Parkinsons, and the Malfoys. The Parkinsons could be immediately ruled out, as the only Parkinson not in Azkaban at the time was Pansy. She had told Madi this and of course she had been desperate to find out more. The only problem was that the books about the Malfoys and the Zabinis were in the restricted section. Madi's face had fallen when Lily told her this one night, sitting on Madi's bed, but Lily had a put an arm around her and told her they would figure it out.

Lily helped her get in there, of course she did, she was always game for a bit of rule breaking, although she already had her suspicions about whom Madi's father was. She knew, thanks to Scorpius's family photos, that Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini had been travelling in the South of France in the summer before Madi had been born. Madi was tall, with grey eyes and blonde hair, and had the Malfoy smirk down to a T, it didn't take a genius to figure it out.

She didn't let this slip to Madi, though, not wanting to get her hopes up in case she was wrong and also deathly afraid of pissing off Draco Malfoy. It wasn't that she was _scared _of him, he had always been perfectly nice to her every time she had met him, more so when Scorpius had let slip that they were dating, but she had great plans for Mr Malfoy, great plans which would _royally _piss off her parents.

They hadn't realised, however, that Minnie would be patrolling that night, they didn't think to look on the ground for cats, they were more concerned with making sure there was nothing at head height. Lily had lent the cloak to Al, and hadn't thought to ask for it back. The rest, as they say, was history.

So here she was now, sitting on the train, speeding ever closer to her parents, and almost certain punishment. Merlin, she hoped that they wouldn't send her to stay with James; she couldn't imagine anything more boring that being stuck in Skye for an _entire summer_. Fuck, they'd better not stop her plans to stay with Madi in France for two weeks – she couldn't go that long without seeing her best friend, not to mention that coast and that fucking great mansion in _La Rochelle_. And, Salazar, what if they decided to stop her from visiting Malfoy Manor, she couldn't not see her boyfriend for the whole summer!

She pulled her jacket slightly tighter around her, staring out at the rainy countryside. It was one of those summer days that felt like the depths of winter, drizzling rain, cold air. Her leather jacket didn't stave off the cold very well, but it looked good, and that was all that mattered really.

Feeling the chill, she pulled a packet of Marlboros and a lighter out of her bag, clicking the lighter to the end of her cigarette until it lit, and then offering them around. She smirked when none of them took one. She could see their hands twitching, glancing around at Scorpius. They would've taken one too, but Scorpius considered in a dirty Muggle habit, and no one really wanted to get on _his_ bad side.

Except her of course, there was nothing like playing the bad girl. Keeping her eyes on Scorpius' she lifted the cigarette to her lips. Lipstick smudged the white roll and she lifted it away, blowing perfect smoke rings, keeping her mouth in the perfect red 'o'. Scorpius looked at her with flat grey eyes, not amused when she pouted ever so slightly, blowing him a smoky kiss. He looked a little discomfited then, blushing just a touch, wanting her, needing her. Smirking, she placed the cigarette in her mouth again. But before Lily could take a second drag, her cigarette had been pulled out of her mouth by Scorpius, who then flung it to the floor where he ground it out with his heel.

"Hey!" Lily complained, all pretension of sultriness forgotten "What the fuck? Do you know how much those things cost?"

"They'll cost you your lungs, someday," Scorpius returned evenly, piercing her with his grey eyes, she leaned closer to him, trying to kiss his neck but he pushed her away, returned to his book.

She wasn't about to let it go that easy, Scorpius might think he could tell her what to do, tell her how to behave but he had chosen the wrong girl for that. She took another cigarette and lit it up smugly, crossing her legs and staring right at him, daring him to stop her. Scorpius reached forwards and dragged it out of her mouth, Lily lit another one, and he pulled it out. On the seventh one she nudged his leg with her foot, smiling wide.

"Aren't you gonna stop me?" she said, eyes lowered, snagging her lips with the edge of her teeth. He stared at her with that unflinching gaze then looked back to his book.

"Do whatever the fuck you want" he drawled.

"Fine" she replied, and sucked it in loudly just to prove to him that she would do whatever the fuck she wanted. She would win. He didn't look up; she had won, like always, only she wasn't meant to feel so empty.

-X-

As the train pulled into the station, Lily could already see her parents. This was _not _a good sign, it wasn't often that entire cavalry was called in. She was normally collected by her father's secretary – God forbid either of her parents weren't too busy to come and collect her.

She stepped off the train last and then proceeded to hug everyone she could find, even a first year who looked scared out of her mind to have Lily Potter's arms draped around her. Only when everyone had left, even Scorpius, who hadn't even kissed her goodbye, the little bitch, did she approach her parents. Even as she walked she could see her father's jaw hardening and her mother's eyes flashing with the kind of anger that she rarely saw.

Oh_ fuck_.

"Mum, Dad!" she trilled, in a sing-song voice, "how simply spiffing to see you again!"

"Lily," her father gritted, "get in the car, we're in a rush."

Well, she had _tried._

"Car?" she asked, trying to ease the tension in the air "Since when were we Muggles?"

"Be quiet, young lady, and do as you're told." her mother's voice was pinched and oddly maiden auntish, she would've laughed if she'd had the guts but she felt it best not to risk it. This wasn't going to blow over, she could tell. Fuck it, she was screwed.

-X-

Then came the screaming, the yelling, the smashing of plates. Her father had fought Voldemort in his time, faced off Death Eaters by the dozens, but when faced with the prospect of being in the same room as a furious Ginny and a stubborn Lily who didn't know when to just shut the hell up and take it, he quickly escaped to the Ministry. Al tried to act as peacemaker, but had retreated to his room when the plates had started coming his way as well.

"How dare you?" Ginny screamed "How dare you humiliate us! Sneaking into the restricted section, talking back to Professor McGonagall, doing Merlin only knows what else? I thought you knew better! I thought _you_ were better!"

"Oh, look who's talking!" Lily screeched back "Weren't you the one that was possessed by Riddle in your first year? Leaving school to fight in the Ministry… Don't act like you were some kind of fucking saint!""

"That was different! That was war! This is just you being difficult and selfish! Look at yourself, what're you wearing! Do you think I want to hear about how my daughter is walking around school dressed like a street girl? Do you know how that makes me feel?"

"That's all you care about isn't it? What everyone's saying, that I've ruined the family name, you don't give a fuck about me and the worst thing is you won't even deny it!'

"Why can't you be more like Rose? I bet Hermione doesn't have to put up with this," it's the same old song, thought Lily, Rose this and Rose that, fucking perfect Rose, well she didn't give a fuck, and if she was crying, if her heart was breaking into tiny pieces it was because she hated them. She hated them all.

"You know what?" she said quietly, "If Rose is so bloody perfect then why don't you go and adopt her, just leave me the fuck alone!"

"You know what? I would if I could," Ginny wished she could take it back as soon as she said it. The fire went from her daughter's limbs, her eyes, but Ginny steeled herself, "I've let you get away with far too much, but you've pushed me too far this time. Get packing. You're going to stay with your uncle Charlie in Romania."

Lily stared at her mother; they stayed still, stuck in the tableau of destruction that was all too familiar. At last Lily broke away, she stomped up the stairs, what else was there to do? After throwing the few things she had had time to unpack before Wizarding War Three had begun back into her suitcase, she dashed off two quick letters explaining what had happened and where she was going to Madi and Scorpius.

She came downstairs, dragging her suitcase down the stairs, bumping and whacking into the walls on the way, and seriously chipping her nail varnish, but she wasn't going to give in and ask her mother or brother to help by levitating it. She could cope without being able to do magic for one summer. She wasn't going to show weakness, especially not after that fight.

She dumped her suitcase unceremoniously by the fireplace, and turned to her mother, half expecting an apology, hoping really.

"When do I go?"

Her mother doesn't even glance up "Now, I just flooed Charlie. He's expecting you."

With a wave of her mother's wand, her suitcase was gone. Lily stepped into the fireplace, and took a pinch of floo powder from the pot on the mantelpiece.

"Is that what you're wearing?" her mother said, Lily looked down at her leather jacket, tight jeans and spike heels.

"Fuck you," she said, and with an insincere smile, and a flash of green, she was gone.

**A/N: It's my two year anniversary on the site, and I have grand plans for this story - it's going to be my celebration :)**

**Huge, huge thanks to augustmonsoon for beta-ing it (which is sorely needed, this is published V.2, which is much improved from published V.1!)**


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